Tree planting day at Schiphol

Schiphol is always developing and preparing for the future. That means carrying out various construction and renovation projects, but it also means being committed to improving sustainability. The building works that we carry out sometimes require us to cut down trees in order to make space for roads, buildings or other constructions. However, Schiphol strives to plant more trees than are cut down at our airport and that’s where our tree planting day comes in!

Schiphol’s little helpers

The special tree planting day will take place in the spring of 2022. It is being organised by Schiphol in collaboration with construction company BAM. This isn’t the first time we are organising this event but it will be the first time we have little helping hands – the children of Schiphol and BAM employees have also been invited to help out this year, alongside their parents. It promises to be a great family day out and this initiative will help make Schiphol greener.

More than 5000 saplings

More than 5000 young trees measuring between 1.5 and 2 metres tall will be planted at five different Schiphol locations. However, the Schiphol employees and their families will only be planting at one of those locations for safety reasons (the chosen area has easy access and there is less traffic). 575 trees are going to be planted along the Rijkerstreek, 903 along the Loevensteinse Randweg, 1555 at the new dnata site, 1264 at the Royal Dutch Marechaussee site and 999 along the Zonnekruidweg. The newly-planted trees will cover a total area of around 18072 m² to begin with. Later on, some of the trees will be replanted at other locations.

A special kind of tree

But what kind of trees will we be planting? This is actually a very important detail, as not all trees are suitable. Perhaps you have already noticed that one type of tree is ubiquitous at our airport: the birch. There are several reasons for this. One is that they do not grow very deep roots, which means there is less chance of them interfering with pipes, plumbing and wiring. Another is that birch trees do not tend to attract many birds, which is a big advantage at a busy airport. And let’s not forget the fact that they look attractive too!

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